Mass divergence in tropical weather systems Paper I: Diurnal variation
✍ Scribed by John L. McBride; William M. Gray
- Book ID
- 104575285
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1980
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 939 KB
- Volume
- 106
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0035-9009
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
The diurnal variation of mass divergence and vertical velocity is documented for tropical summertime oceanic weather systems in the Western Pacific, Western Atlantic and the GATE region. It is shown that it is large and has the same basic character in all regions.
Gray and Jacobson (1977) proposed that the diurnal variation of mass convergence is a result of diurnal differences in the net radiative and convective heating rates in the thick cirrus‐shield covered weather systems and their surrounding clear areas. Fingerhut (1978) has developed a numerical model which appears to substantiate this hypothesis. A comparison of observations with results from his model reveals that a simple radiation‐condensation model simulates most of the observed diurnal variations of convergence. The hypothesis is that radiational forcing is one of the major contributors to the maintenance and modulation of tropical weather systems.